Energy & Climate Change

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) the world barely has a decade and a half to limit global warming to less than 1.5°C to avoid catastrophic impacts of climate change. Given this dire warning, we need to act on climate emergency decisively, and at a much faster pace. But this is easier said than done as there is no one magic bullet; we need a multi-pronged approach to address the climate crisis.

Our work is focussed on enabling a Just Transition away from fossil fuel economy and a rapid transition to renewable and zero-carbon technologies. We are also working on low-carbon/ no-carbon development in industries and promoting natural refrigerants and energy efficiency in the Refrigeration and Air-conditioning (RAC) sector. Our objective is to catalyse an ambitious climate mitigation goal and strategy within India and engage in the international climate change negotiations to push for an equitable and ambitious global mitigation outcome.

Just Transition

Just transition calls for the inclusion of social and economic justice in the shift towards a zero-carbon world. For India, while the question to move away from coal is complex, a well-managed just transition can lead to positive environmental, economic and social outcomes. Our work is focused on enabling a dialogue, and developing policies and mechanisms for a just transition of the coal mining areas.

Green Cooling & Energy Efficiency

The Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol recognises linkages between improving the energy efficiency with the refrigerant transition. The India Cooling Action Plan (ICAP) rolled out in 2019, also sets ambitious targets for reducing cooling and energy demand over the next 20 years. Our work is focused on supporting the implementation of ICAP and pushing for ambition at the Montreal Protocol.

Clean Energy

India has pledged to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2070 at UNFCC’s COP-26 summit in November 2021. This necessitated a substantial phase-down of fossil-fuel consumption in power generation, transport and industrial sectors and a massive scale-up of clean energy sources. In the immediate term, the country targets to achieve an installed non-fossil fuel electricity capacity of 500 GW by 2030, reducing the emissions intensity of the economy by 45%. To this end, India has revised its renewable energy obligations to 43.33% for 2030.

Industrial Decarbonization

Industries rank as the second-highest contributors to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in India, following the energy sector. However, they also provide substantial employment opportunities, particularly within the MSME sector. The Government of India has introduced several policies aimed at supporting the decarbonisation of various industrial sectors, such as the National Green Hydrogen Mission for green hydrogen production and its utilisation in industries, as well as the National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency to decrease energy consumption. Nevertheless, tailored roadmaps and policies are necessary for specific industrial sectors, particularly for sectors such as brick manufacturing and other coal-dependent MSMEs.